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Simon Patterson, the estranged husband of Australian mushroom murderer Erin Patterson, will tell his story for the first time outside a courtroom, in a memoir with a publishing deal already agreed.
Patterson has so far remained publicly silent about last year’s trial, which captured global attention and spawned multiple documentaries and podcasts.
Erin Patterson was convicted of murdering Simon’s parents, Don and Gail, and his aunt, Heather Wilkinson, after cooking them a lunch laced with death cap mushrooms in July 2023.
Simon Patterson’s spokesperson, Jessica O’Donnell, told Guardian Australia that details of his book would be revealed alongside the as-yet-unnamed publisher in the coming weeks.
But she said Patterson would not be involved in that announcement. “Simon won’t be communicating at any point in time,” she said.
“He will allow his story to be told through the book and that’s how he wants his words to be heard. He wants to remain a private person.
“I would imagine there will be a lot of people who would like to understand Simon’s point of view.”
She declined to say who the publisher was or whether Patterson was writing the book himself or using a ghostwriter. But she said more details would be revealed within weeks.
O’Donnell said the release of the book would be delayed until the conclusion of two appeals processes linked with the case.
Erin Patterson was convicted last September of the three murders as well as the attempted murder of Heather Wilkinson’s husband, Ian Wilkinson. She maintained her innocence throughout and is appealing against the conviction.
Patterson was sentenced to life in prison with a non-parole period of 33 years – a sentence that is being appealed by the Victorian director of public prosecutions, who described it as “manifestly inadequate”.
O’Donnell worked in government relations at the same company where Simon Patterson was an engineer when she was asked by him and his family to help manage the tsunami of media interest in the case and subsequent trial.
She said at the height of interest in the case, she was working 80 hours a week to field and triage hundreds of phone calls, emails and text messages daily from media from around the world.
“[The interest] was at a volume that’s hard to quantify. It was something that was extraordinary and a sharp learning curve for me,” she said.
She announced Simon Patterson’s memoir at the same time as launching her own dedicated practice “for leaders navigating high‑stakes, high‑visibility environments where decisions carry legal, reputational, organisational and human consequences”.
